[Interview with Tsu Part 2] Social media has pressured us to always be super fast with “generating” content, but that’s not sustainable, nor healthy; it can make you forget the joy in CREATING.

This is a continuation of a chat I had with foriio creator Tsu! If you missed the first part, be sure to check it out first here. For part 2 of our interview, we talked about the creative process, burnout, and the benefits of foriio! And remember to join Tsu on foriio with your own free portfolio that you can create in minutes. On to part 2!

What’s your process like when you create a work? Does it vary based on what you are doing?

Oh god, my process is super loose. I used to have a set workflow; sketch, line, flat, shade, but I ended up hating that process very quickly haha. I get bored when things become too repetitive, so I’m always bouncing between steps.  If I’m working on a larger piece, like my illustration work, I always save backups in case I want to backtrack to an older version and try again. Knowing when to start over has been an invaluable tool for my sanity 😂

Since I’m both the artist and rigger for my models, my process for making Vtuber models is very similar! Bouncing around between steps helps keep me focused, especially with my ADHD.

You once tweeted with another creator about Kiki’s Delivery Service and creative burnout, how do you keep yourself motivated or in the mindset to keep grinding it out?

I’ve learned that I just can’t fight burnout. I spent most of early 2022 completely burnout, while I was still working full-time in science. I know this isn’t a possible solution for everyone, especially if their creative work is their main income, but I try to take breaks with either personal work, or just ignoring art entirely for a little bit (like Kiki!). My personal favorite way of taking breaks is playing games! HADES and Stardew Valley have been my go-to “I need a break” games, especially HADES since it’s a little stressful (in a fun way! 🤣)

Not taking on more than you can manage is incredibly important as well. It’s possible to keep grinding out work without stopping, but only if you don’t overestimate your own abilities and energy. Social media has pressured us to always be super fast with “generating” content, but that’s not sustainable, nor healthy; it can make you forget the joy in CREATING.

What prompted you to create your own Discord channel and how has the experience been?

I opened the Tsunanigans art server in October of last year, but had been thinking about it since I started freelancing! I wanted a middle ground where I could interact with my community, while still maintaining boundaries as a creator and platform. It took a lot of work, but it’s been an amazing experience! It’s also made me realize how close-knit the community is; I’ve had people join my server and recognize their friends there like the Spider-man Pointing Meme 🤣

Do you have any words for other creators who are looking to get into freelancing or illustrations in general?

Have a clear Terms of Services! It will save you a lot of frustration, and discourage bad clients who don’t respect your time and efforts. Otherwise, have fun!

You’ve had a foriio account since 2022, what have been your favourite aspects of using foriio?

I actually found foriio because of another artist I followed advertising their own! The embed for the link showed up as a mini business card, with some of their recent works in the preview and I thought that was genuinely the cutest thing. Links are easily ignored when shared on social media sites (or even deboosted) so having an eye-catching preview has been a huge draw. The interface itself has also been intuitive, and I love that I can choose how the thumbnail for an art piece is cropped. My illustrations cover both vertical and horizontal compositions, and some don’t auto-crop well when posted. Having that control lets me showcase my art better, regardless of composition. I’m hoping to eventually give PRO a try; there are some built-in features I’d love to incorporate, especially to protect my work posted online.

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That’s the end of our interview with Tsu; we hope you enjoyed it and was able to get a better understanding of Tsu.

Remember to follow Tsu on their socials here:
foriio – https://www.foriio.com/tsurudraws
Twitter – https://twitter.com/tsurudraws
Discord – https://discord.com/invite/tsunanigans

And remember, you can create your own foriio account for free in minutes. foriio is a tool for those who want to share their works in an easy and intuitive manner. Sign-up is a mere seconds and adding work is as easy as dragging and dropping. We’ve also added new import features for those who want to easily transfer their work from their other places. So check us out here and make your own! Hope to see you everyone on foriio!